1. Field of Invention
This invention relates to minesweeping equipment and more particularly to minesweeping equipment which is expendable and which can be quickly deployed from a towing vehicle, such as a helicopter, and which is deployed sequentially from a jettisonable container suspended below the aircraft at a selective height above the water and which is connected to the helicopter towing cable and related towing gear.
2. Description of the Prior Art p In the art of deploying and towing minesweep equipment from aircraft, the practice has been for aircraft crew members to sequentially deploy the minesweep equipment overboard from the aircraft and to pay-out and retrieve the minesweep equipment, wire and towing cable from hydraulic winches which are positioned aboard and controlled from within the aircraft. This method of deployment and operation is very time consuming, requires a substantial number of crew members, is dangerous to the crew members standing at the open hatches of the aircraft to deploy the gear, requires heavy equipment to deploy and retrieve the gear and reduces the total time of the sweep mission due to the excessive time used in deploying and retrieving the sweep gear.